Saturday, December 31, 2011

I’ve wanted to write this piece for some time now but kept it on hold. why? too many things to be done which made me postponed it.. it was the start of the school holiday when it crossed my mind to write this piece, but today is just a few days away from schooldays again..

actually for the month of December I had written down a list of chores which was quite abundance.

frstly, kebun was among my priorities. I had to go to Jawang, Selabak, Sg Tiram and Mandah to provide fertilizer, poison the weed, and yield the harvest. very, very tiring but worth every single drop of sweat, I tell ya.. it was good to be in the kebuns, drenched with sweat, alone, the aroma of nature was the only companion. the silence in the kebun can be tantalizing, to be with the One.. went to each kebun at least twice, so I guess a lot of time was spend there.. my missus did follow me to Jawang early school holiday. a new experience for her.. while I fertilized the palm oil trees, she gathered the ripe seeds scattered on the ground. she managed around 30 kilos of the seeds, which in farming vocabulary, is quite fantastic. all in all, kebun is my passion now..

my other priority was the family. I promised the children new bicycles, took them back to pj twice, and in between those trips, went to Sogo via the LRT and a stroll in the alley of KL to do some Year-End shopping, went to Book Access together with Ida and Al, stopping for lunch at McD, came back home and bought school stuffs: uniform, shoes, bags, stationery, and this time around since Nabil was going to hostel, he got a lot more than the others. I even took them to McD again, KFC, and even Pizza Hut. we even managed a day trip to pangkor.

pangkor is actually a nice place to visit, if not for the many people flocking there every other weekend, especially Coral Bay. maybe next time we can spend a night at mel’s anjungan spa..

when we came back, we painted the picket fence, planted grass in the yard on the other side of the fence,

and I jogged while they rode their bicycles in the morning.. I feel that I’ve spent quality time with them, but maybe I could have done more.. as for bak and mak, they are doing fine, except that bak had a fall a week ago, and it did cause my heart to miss a beat.. gotta see him soon. hmm..

thirdly, school was also on my agenda. I went to school at least once a week during this holiday, mostly coz I just wanted to see how things were. I had to prepare the oral test certificates for the form threes, which actually could have been settled much earlier but for the fact that I liked to put it off. well, not really that way since when I looked at it again, my hands were tied up with other engagements, tau.. and school is starting again in a few days time. Aggggh! dread it, if I may be blunt..

and next Wednesday, it’s school day again!

oh, before I forget , I did go back to south Kelantan for a one-night trip. it was Lekir – Simpang Pulai – Gua Musang - Perasu – Pahi - Limau Kasturi – Lekir again. at Perasu met up with ku, who as always had enchanting stories for me, then met up with Tie and her immediate family members at pahi. it was kind of nostalgic coz it was almost ten years ago since we last met. at limau, slept at nordin’s after having ikan lampam masak gulai asam for dinner.

lastly, come to think of it, I couldn’t have asked for more with what I’d managed to complete @ fulfill @ do @ spend during this holiday.. but being mere mortals we are always in search of something better. tak gitu? layan..

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Saturday, December 10, 2011

last nite, at this hour, was in limau kasturi, mat chok’s coffeeshop to be precise, savoring the teh separuh, which can only be found in limau kasturi..

yesterday morning at 9, went on a lone ranger trip to south Kelantan on my rastaman. the weather was erratic; hot in the early part of the ride, and cloudy with slight rain later in the late afternoon.

by noon, was at ku’s. kak pah was there with bad and kak nik. I always enjoyed going over to ku’s, since this was the place I used to hang out when I stayed in perasu in the early nineties. ku’s place is in a felda settlement, but being the last house in the area, his plot is way bigger than the usual plots meant for the settlers. there’s a pond to rear fish, a stream behind the house, abundance of durian, rambutan, dokong, petai trees, (but not a fruit in sight this time around!) and the best part of al is the meal provided by kak pah. it will always be so appetizing, sometimes I wonder what’s her secret. like yesterday afternoon, we had simple dishes: ikan pekasam, petai jeruk, budu, and mixed vege, but I just couldn’t resist the temptation of having a second and third helping. if not for the trip to krai a little later after that, most probably I would have a fourth helping. it was always like that at ku’s. sometimes we would have exotic dishes such as grasshopper and porcupine. not to your liking? well, you should try them out first instead of making assumption.

after lunch, had a chat with ku about a lot of things, but eventually it led to ketuhanan. as usual lah.. was engrossed but because I had made a promise to go to krai, left ku and family reluctantly though he did invite me to stay the nite next time available.

by 4.40pm reached krai and met cikgu noor’s family after a gap of almost 18 years. how time flies.. all the siblings, eleven of them, were there. how they have grown up; most of them were married with children. we had a wonderful time recollecting on memories gone by. I was there because of zool’s wedding. I got there a day earlier actually with the idea I would be able to spend time with the family. they insisted that I stay the night, but I had to decline since I’d promised mat chok I would go to limau, and maybe the nostalgia of seeing cikgu noor’s children was too much to bear.

so at quarter past six left for limau. it ws drizzling along the way, and the day was getting dark, and I was already weary. by nightfall, reached limau. thank god. after bath, had dinner consisting of ikan lampam masak gulai asam with the standard: petai and budu. thought of retiring early because of my weariness but instead slept after midnite after chatting with nordin.

the next morning, was at the station waiting for the train to pass. since it was still early, met a lot of the kampong folks who were on the way to their offices, kebun getah, at mat chok’s. cikgu fnd, mat pok sar, abe sekoni, ayahanda, and many more whose names just slipped my mind. at ten, left for home. the sky was cloudy, and I was anticipating rain along the way. I just wished that it would not rain until after I had passed Blue Valley at Cameron Highlands since it would be so cold if I were to be drenched. and the worst possible scenario happened: it rained as soon as I was ascending Tanah Tinggi lojing right up till Blue Valley for a good 7 km ride. Peh! talking about timing.. it was so cold, and I was shivering, and I swear I could hear my bones creaking.. anyway, thank god I was able to continue the journey home without any mishap. finally, reached home sweet home at 2pm. tired but satisfied.

Monday, November 7, 2011

yesterday, on the way home from my parents place after eidul adha celebration, my family and I stopped by at kak bedah’s house, my eldest sister in law, to visit mak.

mak had been bedridden for the past 3 months, since the fall at kak enon’s place.

however the past month or so, she just kept to her close eyes mode, opening them only during the periodic bath session. it was last raya when I saw her opening her eyes for a long time, smiling to us and mumbling few words. it was like a ray of hope in term of recovery. so I thought. before, she was considered fit for her age, healthy and always smiling, albeit the occasional hay fever. but after that fall, she didn’t want to get up and she kept lying on the bed, crying and complaining about the pain behind her head. then, after a while, she slipped off to her close eyes mode. we would never really know whether she was awake or asleep. but the food and drink given to her, she would continue having them, in small quantity. once in a while she would open her eyes. but that was it. being senile, she seldom had much to say anyway.

-taken during raya 2011-

but yesterday late afternoon when we saw her, I could see that she was slipping away but I just didn’t have the heart to tell it to my missus. then at noon today, on the way to bagan datoh, I stopped by again at kak bedah’s to drop off my wife. mak was her yesterday self. but at quarter to 1, her breathe suddenly slowed down, and everyone there, (kak wan and abg yaakub, nazira and din, abg tapa and kak min, far’ah, kak bedah,yah, abg tahir and kak pau, iliya, my missus and me) knew that she was about to leave us. abg tapa and my missus were reciting and repeating the shahadah to mak. mak stopped breathing then, and we thought that was it, when suddenly she opened her eyes, stared into nothingness, for a while, and slowly closed them back. tears came out from her eyes, and she was gone.

mak, I had the opportunity to be your son in law for slightly over 15 years, and we had our moments, which I fondly remember and will be etched forever in memory, and only now, after holding back my tears, I am crying for you. i’ll miss you, mak..

Monday, October 24, 2011

To lose is one thing, to lose at home ground is another thing, but to lose 1-6 at home, to your noisy neighbor, that is a very bitter pill to swallow.

Fortunately I was spared the agony of watching the match. I only found out about it when I saw the result online last night. In theory, since I didn’t watch the game, united defence must have been so pathetic to concede six goals, and at home too, mind you. Fergie’s tactic surely backfired this one time. And I read this morning that it was the worst defeat in his career as a manager.

It will definitely take a lot for the players, coaching staff, fanatic, to overcome this misery.